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	<title>ILXor.com FAQ</title>
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<h1>ILXor.com FAQ</h1>

<ul><li><a href="#gen">General ILXor questions</A></li>
	<li><a href="#using">Using ILX</A></li>
	<li><a href="#jargon">ILX Jargon</A></li>
	<li><a href="#zing">Conduct on ILX</A></li>
	<li><a href="#hist">ILX History</A></li>
	<li><a href="#misc">Miscellaneous</A></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><h3 id="#gen">General ILXor questions</h3><ol><li><h4>What is ILM?</H4>
<p>
I Love Music was set up in August 2000 by Tom Ewing, who wanted a bulletin board as part of his Freaky Trigger music website but didn't have the space or know-how himself. It's grown to become a huge, wide-ranging music discussion site though it's still linked to Freaky Trigger. As the name suggests, it's a site for people who love music to talk about it.
</p>

</li><li><h4>What is ILE?</H4>
<p>
By June 2001, the ILM board was also filling up with a lot of non-music talk, and a vote was taken and carried to start a non-music board. DG, one of the regulars on ILM, set up I Love Everything following this vote. I Love Everything is a site where posters talk about anything they want to - news, films, food, sex, drink, books, websites and each other are popular topics.
</p>

</li><li><h4>Are there any shortcuts to the boards?</H4>
<p>
<a href="http://ilm.ilxor.com">ilm.ilxor.com</A> is a shortcut to the I 
Love 
Music New Answers page.<BR><a href="http://ile.ilxor.com">ile.ilxor.com 
</A>is a shortcut to the I Love Everything New Answers page.
</p>

</li><li><h4>Where can I get help? I need help. Where can I get it? The help.</h4>
<p>If you have a simple request such as a broken link, or a real name that needs google-proofed, you can post to the <a href="http://ilx.wh3rd.net/ILX/NewAnswersControllerServlet?boardid=56">Moderator Request Forum</A> and someone will take a look at it. Your thread will be locked after it has been dealt with.</p>

<p>If you have a complaint or suggestion about how the site works, or with how it is run, consider starting a thread on the <a href="http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/NewAnswersControllerServlet?boardid=71">I Must Protest!</a> board, which is for general site discussion.</p>

<p>If you can't post at all, or need to speak with Someone In Charge, contact a <a href="/moderators.html">moderator</a> by email.</p>

<!-- Usage -->
	</ol><li><h3 id="#using">Using ILX</h3><ol>
		<li><h4>What is the format of the boards?</H4>
	<p>
	The boards use a question-and-answer format. An individual starts a thread by asking a question, and other posters reply to the question. The threads read from top to bottom with the most recent answers at the bottom. Each board has a "new answers" page, which lists the most recently updated questions, with newest at the top. This is the 'home' page for each board.
	</p>

	</li><li><h4>Who can ask questions? Do I have to wait before I ask one?</H4>
	<p>
	Anyone can ask a question, and you don't have to wait before you 
ask one. You might find though that your question has already been 
asked. If this is the case somebody will probably link to the old thread 
- this is not meant to be rude or dismissive of your question and please 
don't take it as such! It just keeps things more efficient. However: 
Please do not revive old threads if you have nothing new to add to them. 
Bumping a thread merely because it makes you laugh, or you wish to bring 
it to other users' attention, is bad form, generally speaking. 
	</p>

	</li><li><h4>Should my question go on ILM or ILE?</H4>
	<p>
	If your question isn't anything to do with music, you should post it on ILE. If your question is to do with music, you can post it on either. depending on where you think you'll get the best replies - 'Everything' also includes 'music' after all. Factual questions about music, discographies etc. are likely to get a more useful response on ILM, though. Don't post it on both.
	</p>

	</li><li><h4>Why should I register? Can I post if I'm not registered?</H4>
	<p>
	You have to register to post messages. You'll have to register using a real email address, but it's kept secret from everyone apart from moderators. Registration is required for most of the site's features, including bookmarks, stylesheet settings and timezone preferences.
	</p>

	</li><li><h4>Can I post anonymously?</H4>
	<p>
	We'd prefer it if regular posters to ILx kept to a single identity. This doesn't have to have anything to do with your real-life identity, though. 
	If what you're saying constitutes a personal attack on another poster, please a)think twice before posting anyway and b)use your usual ID. 
	</p>

	</li><li><h4>Can I post pictures?</H4>
	<p>
	Yes. If you post hardcore porn it might get deleted though. Remember that a lot of Ilx users are surfing at work. If you are starting a thread primarily for pictures, please mention this in the subject line. If a thread gets a lot of pictures posted on it, please mention this to a moderator so we can put a "[picture thread]" insert in the question header.
</p>

</li><li><h4>Can I post in HTML? I hate BBcode</h4>
<p>Allowing HTML posts leaves the site open to security problems, which were taken advantage of in previous years. While code can be tightened to check for them, they present a moving target as new holes emerge and browsers evolve. The code we use (there's a quick reference below the posting box) allows you to do the most common actions, such as italics, bold, quoting, strike-through and images.</p> 

<p>A Basic HTML translator is available, which will let you convert basic code (including that used by Flickr) to BBCode by clicking the button on the comment box.
</p>

</li><li><h4>Can I change my registered e-mail address?</h4>
<p>No.</p>


<!-- Jargon -->
</ol><li><h3 id="#jargon"> ILX Jargon</h3><ol><li><h4>What's all this slang?</H4>
<p>
There is a lot of slang -- often picked up from bastardised hackerspeak and Molesworth books -- on ILE. There are also a lot of in-jokes. You don't have to use it -- and if you don't understand something you can always ask!
</p>

</li><li><h4>What are C/D, S/D, POO/OPO, and FAP?</h4>
<p>
The first three of these are formula questions used to get a discussion going.
<ul>
<li><strong>C/D</strong> stands for Classic or Dud? The question is asking answerers to decide whether something is classic (i.e. good) or dud (i.e. bad) and to give reasons.</li>

<li><strong>S/D</strong> stands for Search and Destroy? It is asked of a category - insects or Smiths records, for instance. The answerer says which items in the category they'd advise people to search for and which they'd like to see destroyed. Giving reasons.</li>

<li><strong>POO/OPO</strong> stands for Pick One Only or One Pick Only. It is asked of a category and the respondent has to pick one item from that category as the best - giving reasons.</li>

<li><b>FAP</b> stands for Fancy A Pint. It is used to ask fellow posters whether they would like to go out for a drink.</li></ul>

</li><li><h4>Do you all know each other in real life?</h4>
<p>
No. (To be honest nearly all of the Londoners do know each other). We like meeting new people though - if you're visiting London, New York, Dunedin or one of the other centres of real-life Ilx activity please start a thread and try and get people to meet you.
</p>

</li><li><h4>Is the Jody Rosen I just saw in my local bookshop/music paper/Private Eye the same as ILX's Jody Beth Rosen?</h4>
<p>
No. Jody Rosen is a guy who writes about music. Jody Beth Rosen also writes about music but is not a guy.
</p>

</li>

</ol><li><h3 id="#zing">Conduct on ILX</h3><ol><li>

	<h4>Is ILX a free-for-all?</h4>
<p>	Ilx is light on moderation, so if you're going to post here a lot there's a sort of responsibility not to be an arsehole or act destructively. Try to keep personal slams against other posters to a minimum, and if you start not enjoying it take a break rather than try to stop other people enjoying it too. That's all fairly obvious really.</p>
	</li><li><h4>Are threads deleted?</h4>
	<p>
	Threads can be deleted but we don't like to do it often and will not usually delete a thread apart from in exceptional circumstances. These include:
<ul><li>Libellous threads. If we think a thread might be libellous it might be deleted. This hasn't happened very often.</li>
	<li>Personal threads. If a thread is started discussing a registered user or their actions, that user has the right to ask for it to be deleted or locked. The thread does not have to be an attack on the user. This does not apply to threads users start themselves and later regret.</li>
	<li>Offensive threads. At their discretion, moderators can delete entire threads which are likely to cause offence. It happens very rarely - threads which are racially or sexually abusive are the most likely. Even then moderators might not delete the thread, if an offensive question seems likely to provoke debate. If you find a thread offensive, please say on the thread or email a moderator about it.</li></ul>

<p>If you have a specific post you want deleted or edited -- for instance, because it is offensive or gives away personal informationsee above for details on how to contact moderators.</p>
	
	</li><li><h4>What Counts As Spamming The Board?</h4>


<ul>
	<li>Obvious advertisements, other than for events you are personally involved in.</li>
	<li>Multiple threads on the same or very similar topics. Thread duplication isn't spamming if a previous thread on the topic isn't currently in the new answers page. Otherwise it is and the moderators will probably do something about it. Don't start complaining unless you've read this first.</li>
	<li>Trying to start advertising-style discussion about a product you're linked to</li>
	<li>Starting discussion intended to feed readers back to your site or your blog</li>
	<li>Making posts purely to link to your site or blog</li>
	</ul>
	
	</li><li><h4>An ILX Poster is hassling me off-board! Do something about it!</h4>
	<p>
	"No." is the short but unfortunate answer here. The moderators totally disapprove of people being assholes off-board but our jurisdiction is the board: there really isn't anything we can do about it.</p>

<p>	However, there have been cases of clear and deliberate harassment on the boards based on an off-line situation, and in those cases we've tried to act by discouraging or attempting to ban the people involved.
</p>
<p>	There have also been cases which are online feuds that spill over onto the boards, or where any 'harassment' is blatantly two-way -- if there is somebody you hate on ILX then we suggest for the sake of ILX as a whole and its overall tone that you do your best to ignore them.
</p>

	</li><li><h4>Do I have copyright over things I post on ILx?</h4>
	<p>
	Yes. Although by posting you grant ilxor.com a licence to display it as 
part of the ilxor.com site, you retain your rights. If, as has happened before, 
another site or publication republishes your posts, please contact a moderator, so we can gang up on them. </p>
	
	<p><i>Note:If you represent a publication looking to reproduce portions of ILX, please contact a moderator as detailed above, as the individuals posters will have to agree.</i></p>	
	
	
	
	
	</ol><li><h3 id="#hist">ILX History</h3><ol><li>

<h4>What was Greenspun? What was LUSENET?</H4>
	<p>
	Greenspun.com is the Greenspun family webserver, set up by Phil Greenspun to host several of his web tools and applications. One of the web tools was LUSENET, a set of web-based discussion boards. Anyone could use LUSENET to set up a board for free and this is what we used to host ILM and ILE. So for two years ILM and ILE lived on greenspun.com.
	</p>

	</li><li><h4>Why did the boards move from Greenspun?</H4>
	<p>
	The Greenspun server was no longer being actively maintained by Phil Greenspun, and was gradually filling up and suffering several-day access outages. Phil Greenspun had let it be known that the server would be allowed to wind down entirely. Many of the other big boards hosted by Greenspun had found out about this and wound themselves down or moved, and it was decided that ILE and ILM should make contingency plans in the event of the Greenspun server. An Ilxor called Graham coded an improved version of the Greenspun software and server space was donated in Australia by an ilxor called Andrew. In August 2002 the switch between them was made. 
	</p>

	</li><li><h4>What happened to the old boards?</H4>
	<p>
	They still exist on the Greenspun server, but the ability ask new questions on them has been disabled, and the existing threads have been migrated onto the new server, so adding to old threads on Greenspun.com is also pointless. The Greenspun server was disabled some years ago by hardware failures.
	</p>

	</li><li><h4>What is NuILX?</h4>
	<p>In autumn of 2006, the aging ILX code used after the transition from Greenspun was at its limits. It was not designed for the size and load ILX has become, and had increasingly grave security problems. Towards the end of the year, the site began failing almost daily, and the database was corrupted a number of times.
	</p>

	<p>To compound this, the free hosting deal we'd been using ran out, and the administrator (Andrew) made it known that he wanted to resign. A fund-raising drive began to buy a new server; PaperThinWalls.com stepped up to offer hosting and an ilxor called Keith began writing software to migrate the old messages and run the boards with as little load as possible. After a month's downtime while the new server was purchased, configured and sent off to Canada, we reopened in January 2007, with Stet taking over from Andrew as administrator, and Pashmina as chief moderator.</p>

	<p>In February 2007, we transferred to Keith's code, which was markedly different from the previous system. This code is often referred to as nuILX, although that term originally applied to the post-Greenspun boards.</p>

	</li><li><h4>Why does it look different from old ILX?</h4>
	<p>The old code described pages in straight HTML, the new code uses CSS stylesheets -- a list of instructions to your browser about how the page should look. This means it's really easy to change how the boards look -- for different tastes, or for use on smaller browsers such as phones.
	</p>
	<p> People have been working on stylesheets, and changes are rolling out often. You can now choose from multiple stylesheets, in preferences. If you want to add one to the list (even a comedy flashing zany one), drop Keith or Stet an email.</p>

	</li><li><h4>Why do older posts have two names signing them?</h4>
	<p>This is a hold-over from the old code, which kept track of two names for users -- both a username for logged-in users and a display name for all users. Because this code currently has one, migrating posts from the old system was not straightforward. If we'd used the displayed name to sign posts, it would have been confusing for posts signed with a random zing name. If we'd used the username, posts by logged-out users would be blank. To get round this, older posts are signed with the displayed name, and the username in brackets if available.</p>

	</li><li><h4>Is the code changing? My favourite feature is missing!</h4>
	<p>The code is changing and updates are rolled out, usually on weekends. Right now there's only one coder working on it, and he has a lot of demands on his time. If you have Java, Tomcat or CSS experience, your help would be appreciated. Drop us a line for a look at the code.
	</p>
	<p>Feature requests are considered, but there are limitations on what can be done, including how well it will perform under ILX's load, and how difficult they would be to implement. You can always see the most cutting-edge version of the code at the sandbox (details below).</p>

	</li><li><h4>What is Freaky Trigger?</H4>
	<p>
	Freaky Trigger is an online music zine published and edited by Tom Ewing. It lives at <a href="www.freakytrigger.co.uk"> www.freakytrigger.co.uk</A>. ILM (and ILE) are its official message boards and sister sites, though they are not part of Freaky Trigger. 
	</p>

	</li><li><h4>What is the sandbox?</h4>
	<p>While a previous effort to rewrite the ILX software was getting underway, a version of the code was set up at ilx.thehold.net for testing. While the main site was down at the end of 2006, many ilxors used it as a home away from home. Now that the new code is running, it has been closed down.</p>
	<p>The threads that were started there have been moved to a home at <A href="http://www.ilxor.com:8090/ILX/">http://www.ilxor.com:8090/ILX/</A> (this address may be blocked by workplace firewalls) where the latest version of the ILX code undergoes testing. You'll have to register separately from real ILX to post there, but test posts are appreciated, yo.</p>

</ol><li><h3 id="#misc">Miscellaneous</h3><ol><li>
		
	<h4>Who runs this shop?</h4>
	<p>There are a group of <a href="/moderators.html">board moderators</A> who are responsible for the day-to-day administering of their boards. They are headed by Pashmina, who is the ILX Moderator.<br>
	The ILX server is administered by Stet.<br>
	The ILX code is developed by Keith.</p>

	</li><li><h4>I love ILx, Who Should I Thank?</H4>
	<p>
	Over the years, many Ilxors have had a hand in keeping this place going. You could thank:
<ul>
	<li><b>Phil Greenspun</b>, for providing server and software free in the first place; <b>Andrew Gerrand</b> for providing server space in the second place; <b>PaperThinWalls.com</b> for providing bandwidth and server hosting in the third place.</li>

	<li><b>Graham P</b> for coding ILX </li>
		
	<li><b>Keith</b> for coding nuILX, with assistance and input from <b>Libcrypt</b>, <b>TOMBOT</b> and others.</li>

	<li><b>Stet</b> for server shenanigans.</li>

	<li><b>Mark S, Mike Daddino</b> and <b>Sean</b> for their work categorising and preserving old threads</li> 
	
	<li><b>David Raposa</b>, for registering our domain name.</li>

	<li>The many ilxors who have donated funds to buy server hardware. Thanks to you all!</li></ul>

	</li><li><h4>What hardware/software does the site run on?</H4>
<p>	The current system is a Sun Fire X2100 M2, with a 2.5Ghz dual-core processor and 2gb of memory. ILX is a Java application, run under Tomcat on Solaris.</p>

	</li><li><h4>Where is the site located geographically?</H4>
<p>	The server is in a snug berth in Dallas, Texas with hosting and 
bandwidth provided by PaperThinWalls.com</p></li>
	<li><h4>What is your domain anyway?</h4>
		<p>ILX's official domain is www.ilxor.com, but both ilx.wh3rd.net and ilx.p3r.net work. All three point at exactly the same server, and serve the same pages. However, if you share a computer, you can log in simultaneously as different users by switching the domain you use.</p></li>

</ol></ul>

	<p>This product includes GeoLite data created by MaxMind, available from http://maxmind.com/</p>

<br><br>
-- Stet (13 Jun 2007)
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